Sahityada Rasa Amasung Atei Neina Wareng Khara a collection of literary essays in Manipur by Aribam Kumar Sharma, published by AK Enterprises, Imphal in 2002, price Rs 65/-, page 90.
Twelve essays are featured in this book. The term rasa is a Sanskrit word which means taste. With reference to the Sanskrit literature rasa (taste) is applied to four uses (i) taste of things (ii) taste of the Ayurveda (example: composition of the Ayurvedic medicines), (iii) Literary taste and (iv) godly taste. After chalking out the term rasa the author writes its kind with reference to the Indian literature: (i) Sringar rasa (the taste of love), (ii) Hasya rasa (humorous taste), (iii) Karun rasa (elegiac), (iv) Bira rasa (heroic), (v) Adabhut rasa (fantasy), (vi) Bhayanak rasa (the taste of horror), (vii) Roudra rasa (villainous), (viii) Bibhatsa rasa (distasteful) and (ix) Shanta rasa (religious). The taste would be the soul of literature, commented the author at length. Besides discussing the rasa, the author writes his observation on Khamba-Thoibi, the Manipuri epic, Singel Indu, Bankimchandra’s novels, the Labanga Lata, the Bir Tikendrajit road etc. In his essay entitled Manipuri Anubad Sahitya, the writer presents a detailed study on the works of translation in Manipuri literature. It would be praiseworthy to bring out such a book which features such an essay on the Manipuri translation works. There are Manipuri books galore translated from English, Hindi and Bengali. Numbers on the translated books and the translators are uncountable. The author shows how to translate a piece of work from one language to another. The translator should have the creative mind. Dinamani’s works of translation would be better and more standard than that of Raghumani or Nishan’s works because of his skill of the Manipuri language system, observed the author. In his essay entitled Labanga Lata, the author discuss on Khwairakpam Chaoba’s novel Labanga Lata as a historical novel. Though some critics refuse to take this novel as a historical novel the author completely supports the view that this novel should be a historical novel. After showing the characteristics of a historical novel AK Sharma proves his view by giving paradigms. Based on the time of King Khagemba (1597-1652) Kh Chaoba imagined two characters named Labanga and Lata, the hero and the heroine of his novel. The plot of Shanongba Higaiwa, the great historical event was sketched by the novelist in which King Khagemba and his younger brother Shanongba were quarrelling on a minor issue of wreckage of a boat and fought a war. The novelist creates Labanga the imaginary hero as one amongst Shanougba’s retinue who is in love with Kunjalatsana, the daughter of Khwairakpa.
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